Essay:Greatest achievements of human history

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Andrew Schlafly has several times stated that most - if not all - of the greatest achievements of human history have been made by teenagers[1] ("...like my students"[2]). To back this up, he has provided one specific example: The Gospel of John (which was probably not written by a teen, though he has a baseless theory that it was). To examine this claim more carefully, we shall try to examine achievements that could be reasonably called the greatest ever, and see how many of those were made by teenagers. To be more than fair to Schlafly, we will at times try to gear this towards accomplishments he is more likely to favor, specifically those tied to Christianity and America. Furthermore these examples are generally confined to "classics", using an almost stereotypical interpretation of the term, in order to deflect claims of revisionism and liberal bias. Particular Schlafly favorites are footnoted thusly:[3], while entries he has not specifically expressed admiration for, but should be right up his alley, are footnoted thusly:[4] (Click "edit lead section" for instructions on how to add this footnote to items)

Not included in this list are groundbreaking achievements which occurred prior to recorded history, such as the wheel, domestication of crops and animals, controlled use of fire, writing, etc. as these cannot begin to be attributed[5].

Ages, where listed, will often be approximate. In those few cases in which the age in question is near the teenage years, we will attempt to be more specific.

Marco Polo's journey to China (was 17 in his earliest journey, made with his father and uncle, so this may count as an example)

Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe (completed by his crew)

Amundsen's journey to the South Pole (began at age 38)

Summary: Polo potentially could be an example, but he appears to be the only one. There were almost certainly teenage sailors on many expeditions of discovery, but as labor, not in positions of leadership.

Tim John Berners-Lee(born 8 June 1955) is an English computer scientist credited with inventing the World Wide Web. On 25 December 1990 he implemented the first successful communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet.

No single inventor, though the Ford Motor Company is credited with the moving assembly line. Henry Ford was around 45.

The Haber Process

Designed by German chemist Fritz Haber, age 41, in 1909. By producing ammonia (for fertilizer) from atmospheric nitrogen, it eliminates the greatest limitation on plant growth, and therefore the human population. One-fifth of the world population could not be fed without it.

Summary: by all appearances, none of the above appear to have been invented with the aid of teenagers.

Generally considered to have begun with the introduction of the Constitution of Solon in 594 BCE; Solon was about 44 at the time.

Summary: at least since the end of ruling monarchies, teens have generally been excluded from government, so it is therefore not surprising that they would not make great accomplishments in this field; and indeed it appears they have not.

The Odyssey (age unknown, but no prevailing theories maintain that Homer was a teenager when writing this, if he existed at all)

The Illiad (age unknown, but no prevailing theories maintain that Homer was a teenager when writing this, if he existed at all)

Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer (40)

Huckleberry Finn (49)

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Twain considered it his best work; serialization began when Twain was 60)

Noah Webster

A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language (48)

Samuel Johnson

Dictionary of the English Language (began work at age 35; published 10 years later)

Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass (36)

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Crime and Punishment (age 45)

The Idiot (age 48)

The Possessed (age 51)

The Brothers Karamazov (age 59)

Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace (Begun at age 34)

Anna Karenina (Serialization of the novel began when Tolstoy was 45 and ended when he was 49)

Henrik Ibsen

(Began his writing career at 22)

Peer Gynt (age 45)

A Doll's House (age 51)

Ghosts (age 53)

The Wild Duck (age 55)

Arthur Rimbaud

All major contributions to poetry done as a perverted teenager, according to some movie.

James Joyce

Ulysses (begun at age 32)

Finnegans Wake (begun at age 40)

Marcel Proust

À la recherche du temps perdu (Proust began work on his opus at the age of 39; even if one opts to date the beginning of composition to similar sequences in Proust's previous, unfinished novel Jean Santeuil, this would still mean that Proust began work in his mid-20s)

Thomas More

Utopia (age 38)

Daniel Defoe

Robinson Crusoe (completed in his 50's)

Moll Flanders (completed in his early-60's)

Laurence Sterne

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (serialization began at age 46)

A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (serialization began at age 55)

Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness (published ~42; drew from his experiences in the Congo in his early/mid 30s)

Summary: With the possible exception of Rimbaud (who, incidentally, is the one who is debateably a classic, if not forgotten by the rest eg. Harold "Omni-Critic" Bloom canonizes his work[6], a crazy person at the Guardian does not [7]) none of the above works were written by teens. The best Conservapedia has done is to include Frankenstein (written by Mary Shelley at 18, allegedly), which, while a classic, seldom, if ever, makes lists of greatest books of all time. Christopher Paolini's Eragon, written when he was a teenager, has also been cited, but though a commercial success, it cannot objectively be called one of humanity's great achievements by any standards. Furthermore, a scan through wikipedia's "American Literature" gives no contributions by teens[8].

The first rigorous proofs (rather than as an assumption that would be "obvious to any teenager"), Principia Mathematica (Alfred Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, 49 and 38 respectively) and Peano axioms (Giuseppe Peano, 31).

Major contributors to this field include Euler, Gauss, and Galois. Galois made contributions to this field while still a teen.

Calculus

Newton[3] and Leibniz share credit for this. Neither were teenagers when they made their discoveries.

Fundamental Theorem of Algebra

Gauss, 21

Summary: Whilst there is an old myth that mathematicians reach their peak before 30, few achievements are made by anyone under 20 as a university degree is required before you possess the necessary knowledge to make any breakthroughs. Even child prodigies such as Terence Tao didn't start making significant contributions until their early twenties. The main exception is, as mentioned above, Galois, though Gauss also made important contributions at a young age.

Various scientists and doctors - Smallpox, arguably the most deadly disease in human history eradicated May 8, 1980.

C Everett Koop, 71 - As Surgeon General under Ronald Reagan, disregards the politicization of science around the then burgeoning AIDS epidemic as well as the homophobic and anti-sex tendencies of his party and delivers a report on the prevention of HIV transmission stressing sex education, barrier contraception, and voluntary and private testing

Luc Montagnier, 51 and Robert Gallo, 47 - Officially co-discoverers of the HIV virus, though controversy exists over Gallo's claim to the discovery.

Hippocrates - dubbed the father of medicine. Age at the time of his accomplishments is not known, but there is no prevailing theory of his being a teenager when they were made.

William Harvey - pioneered the understanding of the circulatory system. Accomplished well after his teenage years.

Summary - Given the amount of research, clinical understanding, and practical experience necessary to be a medical researcher or practicing physician, the overwhelming majority of achievements in the field of medicine are not the result of Doogie Howser, MD.

Summary: while teens certainly fought in all the battles above, with the exception of Joan of Arc at Orleans (and the main strategist was Jean de Dunois, aged ~27) the leaders and strategists were adults. Alexander the Great, the archetypical young commander, was 20 by the time he gained control of his armies. Since battles are won by soldiers, not generals, one can attribute some of the achievement to teenagers in this category. However, they would still be in the minority.

10 symphonies (5 by the age of 19, his most renowned (#8 and #9) written in his 20's)

many lieder (some of the best including the Erlkönig (1815), Gretchen am Spinnerade (1814) and Die Forelle (1817) by the age of 20)

"Death and the Maiden" string quartet (age 26)

Wagner

The Ring of the Nibelungen (written over a period of many years starting when he was about 35)

Johannes Brahms

A German Requiem (age 32)

4 symphonies (age 43, 44, 50 and 51)

Vivaldi

The Four Seasons (age 45)

Stravinsky

Rite of Spring (premiered at age 31)

John Coltrane

Giant Steps (age 31)

A Love Supreme (age 38)

Duke Ellington

Black, Brown and Beige (early 40s)

Such Sweet Thunder (age 58)

Elvis Presley

"That's All Right (Mama)" / "Blue Moon of Kentucky" (recorded at age 19; "That's All Right" was written by Arthur Crudup, probably when he was around 40))

The Beatles (earliest work done as teenagers, but most of their work that is widely deemed their best was done in their 20's)

Paul McCartney wrote "When I'm Sixty Four" when he was sixteen, although how much of the sophistication evident in its final recording (when he was in his late twenties) was in the original is unknown. Much of the credit for the "sound" of the Beatles is due to George Martin, who was 37 when he began working with them as a producer and arranger.

Summary: There are quite a few composers who are known for the skills acquired in their teenage (and even pre-teen years). What they all have in common is that their early works haven't found their way into the standard repertoire of classical musicians, or listeners. The sole exception is Felix Mendelssohn, who wrote the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream at the age of 17. By the way, Mendelssohn was a child prodigy who would have left young Mozart in the dust, so I think we can freely admit that one of the most gifted individuals in western history wrote a worthwhile piece of art music in his teens.
In the rock and roll era, some notable works came from people while they were teenagers, for example the early works of Elvis and the Beatles. However, it is difficult to equate the three chord, simple melody of "Love Me Do" with the genius it took a completely deaf Beethoven to compose his final symphony. (Also, why do they have to grow their hair so long these days? You can't hardly tell the boys from the girls anymore. Of course, the Beatles went on to create incredible works in their mid-twenties. Elvis wore pantsuits in Vegas and killed himself with drugs.)

Summary: while all these movements undoubtedly had teenaged adherents, the leaders were all older (e.g. William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, the Founding Fathers, Gandhi, etc.)

Various authors. St. Paul, a major one, was probably in his early 30's when he was converted on the road to Damascus; all his contributions followed. Even if we accept that John was a teen when he followed Jesus (unlikely), that he was the same John who wrote the Gospel of John (almost certainly not the case), and that he wrote it while still in his teenage years (unlikely to the extreme) this is still just one of 27 books of the New Testament

Spent 29 years as a prince before the ascetic life and enlightenment that lead to founding of Buddhism.

Confucius

Starts teachings around the age of 30

Summary: being very generous and allowing John to be counted as a teenage author of The Gospel of John, we have two accomplishments by teenagers, one of which is likely mythological (David vs. Goliath). Disregarding their spurious nature, they are still dwarfed by the accomplishments of adults.

Though this list could by no means be considered definitive, it still quite soundly establishes that teenagers are not responsible for most of the greatest achievements of mankind. With well over 200 examples of the greatest achievements in numerous fields (some taken straight from the mouth of Schlafly) there are less than a dozen that can be reasonably attributed to teens. Examining Conservapedia's list of great achievements by teenagers (which does not claim to be the greatest of all time, just accomplishments by teens) we have included some here (even though they are by and large quite questionable), while most of the others can make no real claim of being among humanity's greatest accomplishments, e.g. becoming a nun, receiving the Victoria Cross, becoming a chess champion, starting a profitable company, performing with an orchestra, being gunned down by sociopaths, starting Facebook (a site Andy has specifically expressed derision for) or Napster (nor can anyone imagine he is a fan of music piracy, just image piracy at CP). There are some not included here for which a case for inclusion can be made, e.g. Frankenstein, The Diary of Anne Frank, Mozart's Mithridate, but to lower the bar to include these would necessitate the admittance of many, many other works by older people, which would only further erode Andy's assertion. As Mithridate is not one of the most renowned works of Mozart, let alone the entire genre of classical music, inclusion of it would mean inclusion of every piece of enduring classical music for the last 300 years. Likewise Frankenstein's inclusion would mean the inclusion of just about every novel that is generally regarded as a "classic", literally hundreds - or thousands - of books, almost all written by adults.

Should Andy Schlafly ever even acknowledge this list (something he would never do, given its authorship) he would, of course, immediately dismiss it as liberal biased propaganda, without offering any alternative achievements (though he would likely reiterate the Gospel of John). To combat this, we can examine lists made by others, generally each specific to one category. Of course, he would just as readily dismiss those as liberal "experts" with an agenda, but he can hardly claim that they were made specifically in response to his list. We can also examine lists done by polling the populace, or, in some cases let the invisible hand decide and base the greatest works on the highest sales. Lists abound on the internet, and we have plenty from which to choose.

Some website's 150 greatest classical music compositions - The source here may be questionable, but they seem to basically adhere to general consensus. Still nothing evident from teenagers. Even Schubert, who we included in our list, has only compositions from his 20's listed. Chopin may have started his first Piano Concerto when he was 19, but that appears to be all.

Condoleezza Rice's top 10 musical works - No claims of liberal bias here. No works by teenagers are mentioned specifically, although her choice of "anything by U2" could potentially include works from their teenage years (before they achieved mainstream success). Given Schlafly's politics and those of the band, it is unlikely he would rate anything by them highly, regardless of their age.

Rolling Stone's 500 greatest songs of all time - There are undoubtedly some teenage contributions here, but this is a limited subset of a limited subset of human achievements, and almost entirely confined to rock (with a bit of jazz, R&B, rap, and country thrown in). Based just on heated debates on RW about a group as renowned as The Beatles, there is little consensus about achievement in this field when compared to other fields such as inventions, math, science, and even art. Given all that, even in this field dominated by youth, at quick glance teenage compositions seem to be in the minority.

Someone's lists of greatest works divided into various eras - One can certainly question this guy's credentials to make this call, but he does seem to have a pretty good primer of the canon of visual art. Looking at all the works with known artists (this discounts much of the medieval and earlier work) we have nothing by teenagers. In fact, this list may have the oldest mean age of any.

A random website's list of 35 best speeches of all time - (some of our choices came from this list) Again, no teenagers. Schlafly can claim bias, of course, but with prominent entries by Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill, among others, it's hard to call it an overtly liberal list.

Author Michael Hart's ranking of history's 100 most influential people. While not all of these people's influence was necessarily positive (note, for example, Hitler's inclusion), this is basically a decent analysis of people who have made great achievements. By all appearances, none of their major accomplishments were made in their teenage years.

Wikipedia's article on various forms of 7 wonders throughout the world - Most of these bear the problems of the architecture and engineering categories, in that they are not the work of a single person, and teens likely helped build them all (we dismiss wonders of nature in this group), but there is no record of teens designing any of these, and it is largely the designers who deserve most of the credit.

↑Referencing the evil wikipedia will not be accepted for grades on this test.

↑Allegedly even a couple thousand - or a few billion - years old by then. Wait, is 14.7 billion years "teenage" in God years? Damn. (New Testament (2 Peters 3:8) gives ~40,274 years, although it may subject to further time dilation if Old Testament is used since 6 days(creation week) lasted like 4 billion years)